Hiking from Htansant village to Hsipaw

5:11 AM and the local rooster decided it was time to wake up the village. And then stay quiet for another half hour. Maybe it also sensed that it was a little too early for sun rise. It tried again this time getting a reply from another rooster in the village, which of course justified another reply and so on. And then the dogs started to bark. The locals here seem to care a bit more about their early morning sleep than in other places we have been so "early dogs" usually get a good beating if they are too noisy. That is what it sound like. And it keeps the dogs quiet.

At 7:30 we were ready for breakfast and it brought back memories to South- and Central America. Rice, fried eggs, some kind of local beans and some warm chilli to put on top. Wonderful.

After a few showers in the morning it had stopped raining but the sky was still covered in clouds. The temperature being 16 C meant that the first part of the hike this morning would be cool, so we put on extra clothing, got our stuff together and headed back the same way we came last night.

There was an option of trying to hike to a local waterfall but it started to rain again, and five minutes into the hike the first person asked whether it was possible to be picked up by some kind of transportation - on the mountain. Our guide politely said "no" and we continued in pouring rain for the next 20 minutes, reaching a small village and agreeing not to try the steep and presumably slippery path to the waterfall.

Instead we walked around the new village, met people, sat down for tea and enjoyed the sun we it managed to break through the clouds. Then we hiked down the road for another four hours, meeting lots of groups of tourists heading uphill. It's busy on the hills. We had plenty of time today to enjoy the hills and the scenery and chat to the others. Once in the valley we were picked up and taken back to Hsipaw for a late lunch with local rice noodles. Good food and we were starving a bit.

Then it was back to the hotel for a much needed shower, some clean clothes and down to "Mr Shake", the guy on the main road that has a blender and does shakes. We sat there for about an hour, got a couple of shakes, and enjoyed the busy and very noisy traffic in Hsipaw. The idea of being in a quiet village in the countryside is somehow spoiled by all the two-stroke vehicles that are going back and forth, the big trucks heading to and from the Chinese border and the old construction vehicles that are the result of a booming tourist industry that is very likely to change this place in couple of years.

We tried our luck going to a restaurant and asked for pancakes but the closest we could get was "bruschetta" which was served after some 30 minutes of waiting. Lots of fresh tomato and garlic but we doubt that it would be considered bruschetta in Italy. Anyway. Back to our room and relax. According to our guide we did almost 23 kilometres of hiking in the past two days. Tired legs tonight.

Our room and "beds"

Local breakfast

Om our way

Morning tea break

Countryside in Myanmar - also a sad story of deforestation

Chicken and local rice noodle soup for lunch

Tiny chair

Checked in at Lily's the home

Hiking clothes drying in the sun

Afternoon walk in Hsipaw

Dried fish - never going to be our favorite

Shake's at Mr. Shake - our dinner

Most beautiful Somoto Canyon walk and swim. 10 months on the road

The alarm was set for 5:40 AM this morning. It's early even for us but we had to catch the bus to Somoto at 6:30 and also make it to the bus station. It turned out to be easy. Then it was just lean back and enjoy the ride as the bus took us up the hills towards the small town of the Somoto close to the border with Honduras.

We were picked up by Henry as agreed and he drove us to his place just on the edge of the Somoto Canyon National Park. We had breakfast there before changing to the proper outfit which should cater for hiking and swimming for the next 5-6 hours. A couple of guys joined us so we left with a local guide and the four of us, first in the back of a pick-up truck going a couple of kilometres down the road and the we went out on foot, down towards the canyon and the river. The following 4 hours were a combination of a beautiful hike, some sections of drifting down the river and plenty of short stops to enjoy the scenery. And a few dare devil jumps off the cliffs into the river. Our guide did the "Peter Pan" jump from around 20 meters somewhere down the river. One of the guys climbed the rocks but came down again having second thought on doing such a crazy jump. In the end we jumped into the river from around 8-10 metres which was more than enough to feel alive. We made it to the end of the canyon the last activity being rowed in a small boat down the river for about 10 minutes, then walking back to Henrys place for late lunch. We were hungry after about 5 hours of being in the water and outside the water of the river. The lunch was great and we also had a chance to change to some dry and clean clothes.

What we didn't know was that getting back to Somoto town and Esteli was on a "DIY" basis. So we waited for the local chicken bus to take us to the bus station in Somoto where we just missed the Esteli bus by 10 minutes. Se we sat there for about an hour waiting for the next bus to arrive. It was dark when we made it back to Esteli. We were dropped off on the roadside just a few blocks from the hostel and headed back for a shower. We were a bit hungry even after the big and late lunch so we went to a Mexican place next to the cathedral and had some tasty tacos and burritos before heading to a local cafe for what turned out to be the best cup of coffee in a long time. We went to bed tired but happy about our hike. What a great way to end our trip in Nicaragua.

Ohh, we've been on the road for 10 months today. Almost forgot about it since there was so much going on today. What a trip so far.

Early morning local bus (6:30 AM)

Feeling alive - in the morning

Life vest and swimming pants for a hike - normal in Nicaragua

First swim in the canyon

And then back on dry land

And back in the water

Our guide ready for the 20 meter jump

He f*cking did it

Waiting for the local bus

Chicken bus - with bananas

Cool night in Esteli

Ready for Mexican food

Best coffee and company in town

....and cake